The Flies Around Me
by Xross-33
Summary: Uncle Ben and Aunt May died when I was in sixth grade. Since then life had been anything but easy. I was always the weakest, most easily taken advantage of. No one was looking out for me so I had to find my own way to survive. After that spider bite though now I'm the strongest. I'm DONE struggling DONE surviving. Now the world is going to need to survive me. I am the Spider man.
1. I am stronger

Life sucks. People say it so much it's almost a cliché. Two days ago I overheard Gwen saying that, as if her life was so difficult. I feel I can pretty comfortably say that my life is shit. My parents died when I was a infant, fine that's not so bad. I never knew them never cared. After them though I went to live with my Aunt and Uncle. They were the best, we weren't rich but Aunt May would always smile when I came home from elementary school and Uncle Ben taught me how to throw a ball. When I was in sixth grade they both died in a car crash on the way to make it to my school play. God when I found out, well lets just say it took me a very long time to make it to a good place. Only mentally though, physically things have only gone downhill from there. With no living relatives I was sent into foster care, the Crabs were the name of my first foster family.

Foster families are supposed to be great you know? A way for unfortunate kids to have a home and a chance at a semi-normal life the government even gives the family money to pay for the majority of the expenses. But with every good thing, there are always a bunch of dickheads trying to take advantage of the system, like the Crabs. The Crabs bought me one pair of clothes, then gave me a thread and needle when they got too big, like a ten year old knows how to sew. I was fed the bare minimum to not look malnourished; they spent as little as possible on me as in cup ramen every meal little. Worse is that fact that they were big fans of corporal punishments. The house was too small and over crowded, they filled it with other poor kids like to me to try and "capitalize on their investments" as if they invested any money into us. I was with them for two whole years before I got the guts to act. I managed to steal a camera from a local electronics store. I've always been sharp so figuring out how to get the alarmed casing off wasn't too hard. The next time the child protective services came around I showed them the videos that I had taken of the Crab's care.

When they were arrested and all of us kids were shipped of to different homes I thanked god! I was about to start high school, a new school a new start everything was going to be different now, maybe my life could turn around. I was wrong. They sent me to the Peachtree family. Unlike the Crab's the Peachtree's house was pristine and always in tip top shape, when I first arrived I thought that this has to at least be better that the Crab's damp crowded smelly house. As soon as the CPS agents left I learned that this was because instead of Mr. and Ms. Peachtree viewing us as income checks we were slaves. They worked us to the bone, to the point where between my intensive chores and homework I never had a spare second; I was often up all night scrubbing their fucking linoleum floors. Instead of opting for corporal punishment they had something worse. The box, they would, actually I don't want to think about it again just know that it was a thousand times worse than getting hit. The only reason it took me a whole year to get out of there was because between my chores and school I had no time to gather any evidence against them. I ended up skipping school a fair amount so I could be awake to catch them on camera when one of my siblings messed up. It was summer by the time I escaped.

Now I'm with the Belladonas. Thankfully they weren't any worse than the Crabs or Peachtrees but they were still bad. I was back to ramen breakfast, with a still a heavy chore load. After the Peachtrees I was almost thankful when they hit me. Unfortunately they aren't completely morons. I would already be out of here if they didn't put two and two together realizing that I had already put two households like this out of commission. The first thing they did was taking my camera and they always search me for any cameras or listening devices before they beat me. I think it only made them angrier.

So that's my life and I'm sitting here thinking about all this to try and pass the time before I'm forced to go to school "Peter get your lazy ass out of here! Your already late and if the CPS gets on my ass about you ditching again I'll give them a real reason to come!" ah there it is.

I stay on the couch for a little while longer. Fuck him, he's not my dad I shouldn't have to listen to him. Then I hear Carl Belladona's heavy footsteps coming up the stairs and scramble to get my shoes and backpack on. "God help me Maggot I swear if you aren't at school today…"

He tapers off. Before I would have talked back to him, I very quickly learned not to do that. I have a scar on my shoulder from the lamp he threw me at. They made me clean up the mess afterwards too. I head down stairs and out the door without saying a word. I keep repeating my mantra in my head 'three more years, three more years'. After two failed attempts I've pretty much given up on getting these dirt bags caught. Luckily I'm their only victim so I won't have to feel guilty about leaving any foster siblings behind.

The walk to school is completely uneventful probably because no one else is headed this way an hour after school starts. I'm hoping that when I get to school I arrive after break so I don't have to deal with any of my peers. I don't get along with other kids at my school. I pretty automatically got excluded from the cool kids just because of my clothing, I currently have on a very worn t shirt underneath a pretty obviously patched jacket. My jeans and shoes are in a similarly dismal state. I'm sure everyone else's hates me because of my brains, I'm so obviously smarter than ninety percent of our student body. The only reason I haven't skipped ahead is because of my current attendance and the pretty sizable amount of classes I had to skip in freshman year. If I weren't as sharp as I am I no doubt would have been held back, but I still beat the class average by a good twenty percent on every assignment. You would think that I would get along with at least the nerds and other misfits but I guess my sterling personality scares them of. You don't live my life without developing a few thorns, and enemies.

Unfortunately as I enter the school the hall is filled with students, seems I only missed first period, damn. I won't need any books for P.E. so I head there without passing by my locker, I glance down a passing hallway and see Flash shaking down some poor fellow, a couple dollars get passed. He looks up and I'm not fast enough to avoid eye contact. Oh Shit. Flash knows I have P.E. so I instead take the next right towards the science classes. A quick glance behind me shows him grinning only about twenty feet away. Fuck Fuck, Fuck! Please not today! I can hear him behind me, "Why don't you wait up Petey?" he's mocking me. Other students around notice and clear a path, this is nothing new.

I break into a run and the hallway is dead silent, I can hear his foot falls behind mine. Two more rights and I'm in the math department. I take a left to throw him off and then another right into the men's room. It's empty. I hide in the handicap stall at the end of the room. The bell for classes goes off. I wait, and wait. Maybe he stopped, P.E. is probably that dick's favorite class right? Yeah, there no way that beating me up is worth missing crushing half of our class at any given sport. I get up and leave my stall, I make it about two steps before Flash walks in, guess not. His two buddies walk in behind him blocking the exit. This is going to be bad. "Hey Petey, you sure ran here in a hurry. Had to take a shit?"

Fuck me, I don't know why I bother but maybe this one time I can talk him out of it, "Yeah you know how it is right, I just got the runs is all. Thanks for checking up on me though."

"So your saying that looking at me gives you this shits eh Petey?"

Was worth a shot. At this point I'm scanning the bathroom for a weapon, like hell I'm gonna let him corner me like some animal and beat me like a dog. Finding nothing I ball my hands into fists and slip into a fighting stance I saw on T.V. once. At least this time I'll go down swinging. Flash's grin turns threatens to split is face in half, "HAHA! Look at that! Tiny, Shawn!" he gestures to his cronies by the door, who also begin laughing. "Looks like Peachtree wants to start some shit, or is it Bellafaggot now?"

I glare and only tighten my fists, "It's Peter Parker."

He puts his hand to his ear "I'm sorry what was that worm?" His friends still laughing outside the door. Seriously do no teachers hear that? Flash turns his head for a moment to I assume make some more fun of me. Seeing the opportunity I dash forward as fast as I can to try and punch him in the face. In one move he turns and catches my fist in his own much larger one. How is he so fast!? I fall to one knee as he squeezes my fist. He uses his free hand to knock me flat on my back. My head hits the floor hard and I see spots. I think I feel blood. "Too bad he's so damn weak." He stands over me holding my wallet. When did he go through my pockets? "Gah! Dumb little bitch doesn't have any cash." He drops it on my chest walking out. "Stay out of my hallways Fag." God Flash is an asshole, I bet his own mother would agree that the world is better off without him. If only I was stronger or faster, I would make him **pay. **For now though I need to get to class, if the school calls the house again, well I really don't need to give Carl another reason to be pissed. I manage to sit up before my vision swims again and I'm back on the ground. Maybe I'll just close my eyes for a bit.

When I come to third period is over, so I've now missed English, P.E. and Math. Luckily that means everyone is at lunch so I can walk the halls in peace. Obviously with my still bleeding head the first place I go it the nurse's office. When I turn the handle its locked, guess she's out to lunch too. "Not that that's a problem." I murmur as I dig through my backpack for my tools. One plus from living my life is that I've developed exceptionally sticky fingers, and the skills to accompany. It was kind of necessary to make sure I didn't die from eating only cup noodles. I quickly scan the hall before I start picking the lock, luckily because of crappy school budgets I'm in in almost a minute. "at least one thing goes right today."

I go for the bandages seeing as stealing medicine is sure to alert someone. I use a little bit of alcohol as disinfectant, after living with the Crab's I got good at dressing my own wounds. Satisfied that I'm not going to bleed out I turn to leave and almost jump at seeing a girl standing there looking at me. I kind of recognize her, Long red hair, pretty, I think She's named Mary or something. Not that any of the cool crowd ever talks to me.

After Flash I really don't want to deal with her, I walk past praying that she's not going to report me for breaking in. When I turn to close the door I hear her ask, "Why do you let him do this to you every other day?"

What the fuck? I normally just let things slide to avoid trouble but after today I almost lose it. I turn back to face her rage in my eyes I shouldn't yell at her but I feel the stress from this morning weighing down on me, and god do I need an outlet. "The hell do you mean LET HIM? I've tried talking my way out, running, hiding, as a last resort I even tried fighting back! You really think I fucking let him beat me up! If you and everyone else cares even a little why the hell you YOU let him!?"

She seems surprised by my outburst, fucking idiot how the hell else could I respond to such a dumb question. "Watch it tiger! I don't have any personal investment in our well-being. I just thought you were some sort of man. But apparently you're just a little boy who can't stand up for himself!"

Holy shit this girl is infuriating! Fuck her I don't need this. I slam the door closed and walk off; I have enough problems, I don't need her shit. I hear my stomach growl as I head toward the cafeteria, that's right I didn't have enough for breakfast this morning. At least that problem is easily fixed. As I walk through the cafeteria doors a group walks out at the same time. The guy in front is laughing as he talks to his friends he almost bumps into me but turns his body at the last second barely avoiding knocking me down. I quickly mutter out a "excuse me," but without acknowledging me at all he continues talking with his friends walking down the hall. That's fine with me though I think as I approach the lunch lady with his wallet and my newly found wealth. I did mention I had sticky fingers.

The rest of the school day passes by quickly, nothing interesting in health and in chemistry only a reminder about the Oscorp field trip tomorrow. I would be lying if I said I wasn't excited about it though. Lucky for me this was a free trip too so I didn't even have to worry about trying to get some cash together. The school bus passes me as I walk home, unfortunately you do need money to ride one of those, I need to save mine for food and of course my foster parents don't care that I have to walk through the shady part of Middletown after dark. As I walk down the street I don't dare try to take any wallets like I did at school. There if I got caught it would be detention and a call home, here it's not uncommon to get shot for looking at something you shouldn't be. Although it doesn't happen here much, I hear a gun shot from somewhere behind me probably a mugging gone wrong in an alley I passed. I don't look and neither does anyone else on the street. We know the rules.

In the nasty part of a particularly sleazy neighborhood I arrive at my 'home'. I use home liberally as there are very few places that I feel less at home. It's a small two-story house in a cul-de-sac although you wont see too many kids playing here. Any parents forced to live here make sure to keep there kids inside at all times. I walk up the decrepit wooden steps and open the creaky wooden door and I can see Lauren Belladona cooking in the kitchen. It smells awful and I wrinkle my nose immediately, I still wish I could have some though. I walk to the kitchen to grab my daily ration of cup noodles, I didn't eat breakfast this morning so I decide I can treat my self and grab two. As my hand is pulling them out of the pantry though I feel a sharp pain on my hand as Lauren smacks me with her wooden spoon. Fuck that hurt! "Pete what have I fucking told you about your shoes! You get a mop and clean what your filthy shoes have tracked through my house!" Fucking bitch, really? I glare at her about to give her a piece of my mind. "Don't make me call Carl." It's not an empty threat; while Ms. Belladona almost never beats me herself she is the one who instigates the majority of them. Begrudgingly I grab a mop and start moping not before taking my shoes off though.

The next day I actually wake up on time, excited for the field trip, when I get to school I see that I'm not the only one as most of my class is already there. There are three buses and as I walk up to the rest of my class I can already hear people complaining that there's assigned seating. I feel something poke me from behind, "Um, excuse me." I turn around to see a girl from my class. She's wearing a black headband with blond hair hanging down past her shoulders; from her clothes I can tell that she's probably one of the rich kids; although I consider a lot of people to be rich. "Your in this class right? Peter is it?" I nod not saying anything. She seems put-off by my silence. "Er, right. Well I'm Gwen and I have the sign-in sheet here. If you could just-" She hands me the clip board and I sign my name. "Thanks, your seat number is-" She flips a page, "Bus one, seat thirteen b. You can go ahead and get on now I need to go sign in everyone else." She walks of to go bother a different student, although now that I think about it that was probably the least painful interaction I've had with a classmate since middle school. Today really is going well for me. If she ever tries to talk to me maybe I'll think about responding. I get on the bus and take my seat, I'm one of the first on so its still relatively empty, I've got the window seat in a so far empty row. I gaze out the window getting exited again thinking of all the cool things I could see at Oscorp. Just last week I was in the computer lab reading a blog about the new robotics department and all the cool stuff they have there. If I'm lucky maybe I'll eve- "Hi."Godamn it. I turn around to see an average looking girl wearing normal clothes with her brown hair tied up in a pony tail. She takes the seat next to me. "Thirteen b huh? Lucky you to be sitting with a partner like me." Who the hell is this girl? "What's with that look? Oh I guess I forgot to introduce myself huh, My Names Katherine. I just transferred here from Illinois." She puts out her hand for me to shake.

She's new so she probably doesn't realize that it's not a good idea to hang out with me. Being in such a good mood I figure I'll help set her straight. "Listen, that's nice of you and all but, you probably don't want to be friends with me. I'm a terrible friend to have." I turn back to the window to resume my day dreaming until I feel a light jab on my arm. I turn back to her and she still has her other hand out.

"I don't know who you are, but nobody tells me who to make friends with. We're seat buddies so like it or not for at least the next half hour you're stuck with me."

Can't say I didn't try. I tentatively shake her hand; "You'll probably regret this but, the names Peter.

The ride to the lab wasn't completely terrible. As it turns out Katherine was pretty excited about Oscorp too and as far as our class goes she's actually pretty smart. We ended up browsing articles on her smart phone and before we knew it we were already there. They split us up into several different groups for the tours so for now me and Katherine went our separate ways, she seemed sad that we weren't together but honestly I didn't really care, that is until I saw that Flash was in my group. Guess that's the end of my good luck.

Luckily he couldn't actually beat me up in such a public place, but that didn't mean that he made my life any easier. Every display Flash made it his personal mission to harass me, bumping into my shoulder at every turn, poking me when I wasn't looking, he even tripped me as we entered the biology wing! The rest of our group walks around me as I get up off of the floor. Now in the back of the group I struggle to hear as the geneticist in charge explains the purpose of the large display of spiders in front of me. I miss most of it but I do hear when a student in the middle of the class remarks about a missing spider. I raise my hand to adjust my second hand glasses to hopefully see better. I notice a weird feeling on my right hand as I pull it away from my face and look down to see the most beautiful Spider I have ever seen. I've never been much of a bug guy but the way that the light glints off of the beautiful cerulean carapace fascinates me. It raises its front two legs and for a brief second I wonder what that means. Then I remember from my biology book that that's what arachnids to before they attack. My entire body goes cold for a second before it feels like my hand catches fire. I smash the spider with my other hand but it's already too late. It already bit me. I should go to the geneticist and ask for help but, all reason left my mind the second those fangs pierced my skin. I quickly run for the exit. I need air! I don't know if anybody is following me or even noticed I'm gone.

When I'm out side I see a fountain around a statue of Norman Osborn and dunk my hand in it hoping to dull the pain. Luckily it only makes it about a hundred times worse. That's when I start blacking out. First I'm in front of the school again. How did I get there? From Oscorp that's more than a two-hour walk. Now I'm outside of the house. What? I reach for the door and It's locked. It's dark outside now and what have I been doing for all this time? I'm on the ground outside curled into a ball shivering. What the hell is going on with my body? I probably look like a drug addict, who knows what was in that spider maybe I am a drug addict now.

When I'm finally coherent again, it's the morning. Of what day I'm not sure. If the memories I have are reliable it's at least Thursday. I should probably go to class, or actually a doctor but I'm dirty, smelly, and sticky from sleeping outside all night. So I'm taking a shower before I go anywhere. The backdoor of the Belladona's opens and I walk up the stairs to my room grabbing a clean towel and then head straight to the shower to wash off all this grime.

The warm water feels heavenly, and I feel the knots in my shoulders and back from sleeping on the hard ground begin to loosen up. I almost sigh in contentment before right before the door opens. I quickly turn the water off and grab my towel from the rack wrapping around my waist. When I clear the water from my face I'm looking at a very angry Carl. "What the fuck is wrong with you boy? You ditch your field trip; I get a call from your teacher making me drag my ass out there to go look for your sorry ass! And when I get home I find my wife frightened because you came to the door doped up on Crack! Where the fuck did you get money for drugs! You been stealing from me boy?" What the hell? I open my mouth to try and explain but he cuts me off before I can begin. "I've had enough of your lip boy, You been actin real cocky round here lately. I already called the school to let them know you were feeling sick and weren't coming today. Now I have plenty of time to remind you whose in charge!" oh no.

Carl Belladona is no model for male physical fitness but he is far stronger than me. It's probably the only reason I put up with his shit day after day. Perhaps if I could eat more than ramen and the occasional Mc. Donald's I would have developed some muscle by now. As it is he is easily twice my size. His hulking form swings a fist at my head in a wide ark, I scramble backwards and it misses my nose by an inch. My foot hits the rim of the tub and I fall in hitting my head on the wall. I cringe for a second but when I open my eyes Carl's foot is raining down on me. On instinct I bat his foot away and he falls slamming his head on the toilet bowl. I hear a loud thud as his body hits the ground and I wait panicked for a second for him to get up. Nothing. Tentatively I stand before quickly running over him to my room. I need to get out of here! When he wakes up. Oh god, he's going to murder me! I throw on my other pair of clothes, some badly ripped black jeans and a very faded gray, once black, T shirt Before grabbing my book bag and running down the stairs two at a time. As I go past the bathroom I hear Carl getting up and go even faster.

Once I'm out the door I jog the next three blocks before I'm sure he isn't chasing me. I stop and am surprised that I don't need to catch my breath. I've never been the most in shape guy. Luckily the only major health problem I've ever had is my eye sight. Crap! I check my back pack before confirming that I left my only pair of glasses in the bathroom with Carl. But hold on, my vision is abysmal without them. I look around me at the street. "What the.." I can see. It's like the fog I've been looking through for my whole life has been lifted. Could this be caused by that spider? I look at the back of my right hand expecting to see a huge wart or scar but my hand looks completely ordinary. It doesn't even hurt. No idea what to make of all this I might as well head to school, I'll worry about Carl afterwards.

First Period was completely uneventful, same shit as always putting commas where they should be. I never really cared much for it. It's mostly not hard but my interest lies with science. I had a couple weird issues during class though: I broke my favorite pencil somehow, it felt like my paper was made out of tape, I ended up tearing it and having to ask for a new one after I ripped it off of my hand. The rest of the class had some fun with that.

I go straight to the locker room after that and start to get changed for P.E. I glance at the mirror as I'm putting on my work out shirt and stop for a moment to notice muscles that I don't have on my body. I poke one of the abs of my new four pack just to make sure it's real. Suddenly I'm looking at Flash as he's now standing in front of the mirror already changed. "Chekin your self out Pettey? God you're a riot. You better enjoy it while it lasts though. Today is dodge ball day and I have a feeling that your pretty little face is about to get fucked up! Ha!" He walks away into the gym. I hate dodge ball day. It's supposed to be a team exercise but inevitably it always ends up with flash and his friends throwing balls at me and my 'team' staying far away from me and rolling them back to Flash to stay on his good side.

After we're all out of the locker rooms the coach blows his whistle before walking of to go do something. Flash grabs a ball and walks up to the dividing line. "Dodge this Parker!" He throws the ball directly at me, but for some reason it seems like he's moving in slow motion, I bend my knees and duck under the ball before it hits. 'THWANG' The ball makes a noise as it collides like the ball behind me. Other than that the auditorium is dead silent. Flash looks pissed. "All right Petey, You think your slick?" everyone on his team picks up a ball while my team shuffles off to the side. It's now one v. fifteen. Great odds. Flash throws his ball again and I dodge right, I duck under a second ball before jumping a third one, I think I jumped like five feet but I have no time to focus on that. All of my concentration is set on not becoming a dodge ball patterned punching bag. Left, right, jump, duck, roll, I grab a ball out of the air and hurl it at a body on the other side of the line blindly. All the balls stop flying as everyone turns to the guy I nailed. He scoots to the side nursing his head. Well now I guess it's only one verses fourteen. One by one I follow that same pattern. Hit a guy in the stomach, knock a girls legs out from under her with a ball, I think I even knocked one kid out. Until it's just me and Flash. He's panting hard, I'm breathing evenly through my nose.

What I've just done is amazing some would probably call it spectacular but right now I'm not thinking about that. My head is still in the game, from the look on Flash's face I can tell he is too. We're staring each other down both with a ball in hand, waiting for the other to make the first move. I tense my arm about to throw, then I hear a loud whistle snapping me out of my trance. The coach is back "Good game! Showers boys and girls!" Good game? Where the hell was he when it was me against a fucking firing squad. Whatever I drop the ball and start walking towards the locker room. My math class is on the other end of campus so I need to hurry if I don't want to be late. As I'm walking Flash throws his ball as hard as he can at the back of my head, I have no idea how I know that, but right now it's traveling towards me in a perfect arc to hit me. I reach my arm back and pluck it from the air without even turning my head. I stop for a second and look at the ball stunned. As soon as it left his hand I knew exactly where it was and where it would be. Flash is behind me, he's walking as if to shove me with his shoulder. I take a step to the right and he nearly trips in surprise.

The glare he has could kill, "Let's see how lucky you are during lunch freak." And he walks off towards the locker room. Just what I needed on top of this weird day.

I manage to get to Math just before the bell rings, my usual spot in the front is taken so I take a seat in the back, I only ever sat in the front because of my vision, guess that won't be a problem anymore. Right as the bell rings a body runs through the door and takes a seat at the only empty desk next to me. Weird I thought we only had twenty-nine students in this class. I look over and see Katherine from the bus ride yesterday. She looks surprised to see me, "Peter? Since when are you in this class?"

Me? "I've been here all year when did you join?"

She almost rolls her eyes, "I told you that I started two days ago right? Why weren't you here when I started?" Two days ago? Oh right, I was knocked out in a bathroom actually not far from here. "Never mind that, where did you go yesterday? Like no one could find you, your group said you just bolted." I scratch the back of my hand absentmindedly, I hear the teacher start her lecture in the front of the class and turn to start taking notes. "Hey are you just gonna ignore me?" I have more important things to do than talk to Katherine. I continue taking my notes, f(x) = x2 so f '(x) = 2x and, "Peter!"

Ms. Appleseed stops her lecture to look at Katherine, "Ms. Pryde, I understand that this is only your second day in my class but I assume that in Illinois students also aren't allowed to talk in class."

Katherine reaches into her back pack to take out her notebook "Sorry, it won't happen again." Appleseed goes back to her lecture but I hear Katherine whisper from the seat next to me. "You can't ignore me forever." 

After class is over Katherine starts to follow me, but grabs her head and heads to the bathroom complaining about a headache. People give me wide berth as I enter the cafeteria I guess word about gym has already spread around. When I enter the cafeteria it goes silent, I still have money from the other day so I start heading towards the line. I'm about halfway there before Flash walks in. even without turning around I know it's him, I can sense his malevolence. People clear the tables closest to me sitting around the edges. I see some worried or confused people in the crowd, most just seem eager for a fight. "Hey Petey." I turn around to face him. He glares at me and I glare back. Like before I guess my only choice is to fight. My hands ball into fists and I spread my feet apart. "Gonna try this again huh? Good. It's more fun this way."

He walks at me slowly menacingly, but for some reason I can't bring myself to be afraid. He pulls his arm back and takes the last stride in a massive step throwing his entire weight at me in a punch straight for my head. I know that his fist is probably moving anywhere from eight to eleven miles per hour yet some how I'm faster. I side step his fist, and he stumbles a few feet before catching himself. If the cafeteria felt quiet before the silence was suffocating now. Flash throws another punch, this time at my mid section and I dodge left, right, left, right, and left. I'm calmly standing untouched and he's panting in front of me. "Stand Fucking still Parker!" If that's how he wants it. He throws his next punch at me and I catch it in my right hand. He looks shocked. Hey look at that, I'm stronger than him. I squeeze his hand and begin pushing him down into the ground, I can't keep the smile off of my face. Just the other day I was wishing I could make him pay. Now the opportunity presents itself. After all I've been through I deserve to enjoy this. "AGggh!" What is he screaming about. I let go of his fist and see that his fingers are badly bent. Just how strong am I? He punches at me with his right hand, I raise my left to knock his fist away and cock my right fist back into a punch. It's about time I hit him right? I deck him in the chest as hard as I can. I feel the wind leave his lungs, I hear a gasp from the crowd as the force of my punch lifts him off of his feet and sends him flying about a meter before he lands on his back.

Flash is on the ground moaning, clutching his probably broken hand to his chest. I see him look up at me through teary eyes, "What the hell are you?"

Everyone's eyes are on me, normally a nightmare for me. I've always felt weak so I try to stay out of sight, not draw attention to myself. But now, now I'm the strongest guy in the room, and their attention is only confirming that. I walk up to Flash and put my foot on his chest before pressing down feeling him squirm beneath me. "Better than you."

What do you think? I've only ever written anime fan fiction so I wanted to try something new. Please review if you liked or disliked it and tell me what you think


	2. Time to grow up

I could crush him. Flash Thompson is underneath my foot. His hand broken, his eyes filled with tears, his so called friends stunned in silence. I know I could do it right here, he does too, our audience can probably tell. I asked for a chance to make him pay but now that I'm here why am I hesitating? If Flash were me, here and now, would he show any mercy? No. I have the strength to kill him and get away with it. Why should I stop. I raise my leg to stomp it back down, but before I do a hand reaches for my shoulder. I turn and grab the hand before it reaches me, I'm face to face with Gwen. "Peter don't you see Flash?" She's going to try and change my mind, I don't need her opinion, she wasn't there every other day the last two years when it was Flash standing over me. "I'm not going to say that he didn't deserve it, he did. And that fact that you were the one to put him in his place, well that's justice as far as I'm concerned. But don't you think that this is enough?"

Enough? I look from her back to flash. "Flash wouldn't stop."

She seems surprised that I would acknowledge her. "He did." As the person on the other side of the punches I'm pretty sure he didn't hold anything back. "Look at him, he's beaten you up pretty badly but never as far as this. Flash was a jerk but he could stop before he went over board. From the way his fingers are bent I doubt his hand will ever heal correctly. Has he ever given you a lasting injury?"

No. He hasn't. Am I actually worse than Flash? The bell rings and people start slowly clearing out of the cafeteria. I lift my foot off of Flash's chest and grab my bag off of the table. "Fine. But don't expect me to be sorry. He deserved what he got. Probably more."

She smiles as I walk past her towards my class. "I don't think anyone expects you to." The crowd parts around me as I head to class.

I get to health class a little late and am forced to sit in the back again. Our teacher talks a little, before putting on a movie. I'm thinking more about what happened at lunch to really be paying any attention. "Didn't know you had it in you." I look to my right and see the girl from the other day that I now recognize as Mary Jane. She got a rise out of me last time because of how crappy my day was going, this time I'm just going to ignore her. I turn to the T.V. and pretend to be paying attention. "Although I don't get why you got so mad the other day. Because after what happened at lunch no one is going to believe you weren't letting him beat you up." I notice that the people around us have stopped their conversations and are now listening to us. Just great. "But I guess everybody has a fuse. Yours is just longer than most. I have to wonder though, now that you're the big dog, what are you going to do with all that strength? Are you going to be just like Flash?"

I turn back to her glaring into her grin, "I won't." I guess satisfied with my answer she turns to the television still grinning, and I return to thinking about lunch.

Finally at the end of the day is Chemistry, my least hated class. I say that because although I've mostly mastered the material I can at least have some fun with it. In this class at least no one takes my seat there are an odd number of people so that means I get to do every experiment by myself, it's honestly the best part of my day. But as soon as I see Katherine walk through the door I know any chance of peace and quiet is pretty much shot. She smiles when she sees me and despite the otherwise empty class room she takes the chair at my table and sits right next to me. "Hey Peter! I'm so glad that you're in this class with me! I had to miss my first day because of like this really bad headache and now we're going straight into a lab. Think you could help me out?" I'm pretty sure asking is just a formality because no matter what I'm going to end up her lab partner. I just sigh and rest my head on my arms. "Hey why do you look so down? Does it have to do with why you left the trip early?" God not this again, I'm pretty sure my groan is audible around the whole room. "Listen, I realize that I was a bit pushy in math so I guess if you really don't want to talk about it, I promise I won't ask again."

Damn, now that she says that I realize that I'm actually dying to tell someone about this. I need another mind to help me make sense of all the changes I've gone through in the past couple of hours. She claims to be my friend, that's the kind of thing friends are for right? "I'll tell you." She smiles looking at me expectantly. "Not here, are you busy after school?"

Now she looks even more curious, "No, where did you want to go?"

"Just away from the school, too many people listening here." After what happened with Flash people are starting to pay attention to me, which couldn't be more inconvenient. "Meet me in front of the school after we get out."

Class after that was actually fun. I'm used to doing the labs by my self but with Katherine there she managed to make it entertaining as opposed to just interesting. I was reminded again that she wasn't quite as dumb as the rest of our class. Her previous school was a few chapters behind but after I gave a very abridged summary of the material she could probably score about as well as anyone else if given a pop quiz. We finished early so the teacher let us out before everyone else. We split up in the empty hallways to go to our lockers before meeting in front of the school.

I'm sitting on the edge of the school fountain waiting for Katherine it had been about twenty minutes and other students were starting to walk out. When I spot her she walks up to me apologetically. "Sorry I took so long, I was on my way but I got this awful headache and had to stop until it went away."

"Didn't you have one earlier today too?" I surprised myself by feeling actual concern. "Does this kind of thing happen often?"

She shrugs me off, "For the past month or so they've been coming and going. Some worse than others, but that's not what were here to talk about is it?" I guess I can't delay this much longer. I stand and begin walking towards a place where I knew no one would eavesdrop.

There's and old junkyard that was not far from the Crab's house. The first time after I got beaten I tried to run away. I ran as far as I could go, away from them, away from my life. I ended up in an abandoned machine yard about thirty minutes away from the bad part of town. It was completely empty, in the almost twelve hours I was there I didn't see another human being. I eventually had to return, as even the bare minimum care they were giving me was better than starving to death in a junkyard. But on occasion I would still go there when 'home' life got too much for me.

As Katherine and I approach the dump, the noisy din of the city becomes more and more distant replaced by comfortable silence. I take a seat on the hood of a rusted car and Katherine sits down next to me. I can see the question in her eyes. "Ok no one will overhear us here. Now please tell me what happened! I swear if it's just that you shit your pants or something I'm gonna be pissed at having to walk all the way out here." Her smile makes it clear that she is joking and I crack a similar smile.

"Well when I was at Oscorp I panicked because I got bit by a spider." Her jaw almost drops, I can see her about to yell at me for all the drama fro that delivery so I quickly follow up on my statement. "It was one of the genetically modified ones. When I got bit it felt like I was on fire and I blacked out."

Her mouth closes, she instead now looks at me with concern. "Did you go to a doctor?"

I hop off the car and gesture for her to follow. "When I woke up, well. I'll just show you." I lean down to brace my hands underneath the car. Time to find out how strong I really am. I lift with my legs and the car doesn't move much. I grunt applying more force and the whole vehicle lifts almost an inch of the ground. I hear Katherine gasp behind me in amazement. But I'm not done yet. Straining myself I stand to my full height and hold the rusted sedan over my head, arms fully extended. I turn my head to smile at Katherine and see her jaw still agate. I toss the car I few meters away a cloud of dust rises when it lands. Strangely I barely feel tired.

Still looking shocked, Katherine sits down on a dirty looking couch. It takes a second but she finally puts her thoughts into words. "That was AWESOME! What else can you do?"

I told her about my weird danger sense and how I was faster as well telling her about dodge ball earlier today, I decided to leave out my fight with Flash seeing as she had been too busy dealing with a headache to have heard about it although I'm sure she would understand. Then came the questions. She walks around me observing me like a hawk as she ponders my strange condition. "So you only have two arms still right?" I lift my arms not even sure where I would hide an extra set of arms if I had them. "Can you shoot webs from your ass?"

"Katherine, that's gross." I really hope I can't.

She looks bothered by something stopping for a second before resuming her circling. "It's Kitty. Katherine is for strangers and acquaintances, my friends call me Kitty."

It's a little strange to hear someone my age going by such a childish nickname, but it is easier than saying Katherine. "Alright, Kitty. But no I haven't made any webs."

She smiles when I say her nickname before muttering mostly to herself. "Well since you don't have any of the other physical characteristics I suppose you probably don't have Urticating hairs either."

The microscopic hairs that spiders use to climb! My mind immediately goes back to the paper sticking to my hand from this morning. "Actually…"

And that's how we ended up in front of a brick wall in the middle of the junkyard. When I say wall I mean that's all it was just one like two and a half-story wall. I think a school might have been here before. Kitty was behind me observing. Well no time like the present. I press my hand up to the wall and give it a tug feeling my hand try and stick to the wall. Okay maybe this will work. I jump off the ground a bit and let my left hand stick to the wall to catch me, my feet up against the wall as well to try and give me some more leverage. I lift my right hand and push up with my legs settling my hand further up the wall. I hear Kitty call to me from below. "You can do it Peter." I can do this. I lift my left hand and suddenly realize that I don't' feel the wall with my other hand. It takes a second before I realize that I'm falling. By the time I do my body is already reacting on it's own, I'm halfway through a backflip, arcing gracefully from the ground and land next to Kitty in a crouch. "Well you almost did it."

I'm about to retaliate when I see Kitty suddenly grab her head. "Kitty, you okay?"

She waves me off, "I'm fine just another head-" half way through brushing me off she passes out. I notice and am fast enough to catch her before she falls. Except that she passes right through my hands. I don't mean that as in I missed; I mean that I felt a cool sensation in my hands and she went _through_ me. What the hell? She lands on her side with a thump. I reach out to turn her over to examine her but again my hands go right through her.

Fuck. I have no idea what is going on and I have no idea how to deal with it. I want to take her to a hospital seeing as how she passed out seemingly out of nowhere, but that would require moving her. I can't touch her and I can't leave her here to go and try to get help, I doubt anyone else could help anyway. It's getting dark; I can't just leave her here. I sigh, there's not really any other choice. So I sit down and prepare to spend the night watching over her. Is this what it's like to have friends?

I stayed awake the whole night. Sure I had survived here alone when I was thirteen for a night. But that was years ago, I needed to be sure that no bums or thugs chose this spot to occupy late at night. Luckily we remained alone. Several times during the night I tried to move Kitty but all attempts resulted in failure. I was completely stumped regarding her condition. She seems to be completely intangible and unconscious. Judging by her facial expression she isn't in any pain so perhaps the headache brought this on and then disappeared. Also seeing as her clothes didn't fall off her body her intangibility seems to have spread to everything she was touching when she passed out. But for some reason she didn't fall through the ground. I'm also not entirely sure that she's breathing.

I sighed for what must have been the millionth time that night, I was hungry and tired with bags under my eyes. Hours ago I gave up on trying to figure out what was going on, maybe when she wakes up I can get some answers.

I see Kitty roll over and jump from my perch down to her side, I place a hand on her shoulder and am relieved to see that she's finally tangible. She blinks her eyes before focusing on me. "Oh hi Peter."

That was anticlimactic, not really sure what to say I answer with a simple. "Hey."

I help her sit up and she looks around seeing the morning sun and the machine yard around us. "D-did I pass out?"

Logical assumption. "Yeah."

She stands up to brush her self off, "And you were here with me the whole night?" I nod. "If you were here why the hell did you let me sleep on the ground? There's a couch right there you know?"

She sounds more annoyed than mad, She's now stretching trying to work the kinks out from sleeping on the ground. "I tried but I couldn't move you."

Now she looks mad, "What do you mean you couldn't move me? You trying to say I'm fat! I saw you lift a car yesterday!"

I back up defensively while she advances on me, "No, no of course your not fat! I mean I couldn't even touch you. You were completely intangible! If you weren't I would have brought you to a hospital or something."

She stops and looks at me. "Seriously?" I nod. "Like for real? I was intangible?" Another nod. "That's fucking rad! Help me figure out how to do it again!"

So we spent the next hour trying all sorts of things to try and invoke her condition, although she kept referring to it as a super power and I as a failure to maintain density. She started by looking it up on her phone, it turned up nothing to no ones surprise. After that we tried interpretive dance, physical exertion, even her pretending to pass out, which was rather funny to watch. I found myself having fun watching her, especially the interpretive dance part. But unfortunately all good things must end.

We're on the couch trying to brainstorm ideas when my stomach grumbles loudly reminding me of my hunger. Kitty rubs her own stomach in response. "Let's get something to eat." I'm too hungry to even pretend to argue with her. Unfortunately I don't have any cash, guess I'll just have to make a withdrawal.

I try to be discrete as we head to a pizza place she says is 'the bomb' I could probably get more if I was alone but I was being extra discrete with my 'withdrawals' so as to not alert Kitty. There were a few times I thought she saw me but she didn't say anything so I guess I'm in the clear. When we get there I've got more than enough money for a pizza, which is good because I might eat more than one. We order and sit down to wait for our food, when I remember something important. "So I just realized, it's almost one o'clock on a Thursday and we have, well really had school today."

She looks surprised opening her phone to check the time and date. "Holy crap didn't we have a math quiz today?" I realize the same thing. "Oh well I guess. I mean it's too late to go back now right? By the time we got there last period would only have like twenty minutes left. So are your parents going to be pissed? I mean you ditch school and didn't even go home yesterday?"

Oh shit, I forgot all about Carl. When I go home it's going to suck. "When I left the house yesterday Carl was already pissed. I can't really imagine him being any more angry, he's an asshole."

She nods in sympathy, "I know what you mean Jake and Bonnie don't really care about me either. They're not mean I guess, but they never pay as much attention to me as they do their real son." I look at her for a second and perhaps she can see the question in my eyes. "My dad died when I was still too little to remember him. My mom died three months, two weeks, and eleven days ago. Mom and I were close. I mean we only had each other. She worked hard to support the two of us, but I guess all that hard work finally got to her." She casts her eyes down and I can tell that she's reliving some less than pleasant memories, I've been there before. I've never had anyone to try and comfort so I copy what I see in movies and reach my hand across the table to grasp her free hand, squeezing it reassuringly. Kitty smiles back at me removing her hand to wipe a tear from her eye. "Thanks Peter, I think I'm okay. About six months ago she came down with a really bad cold and a crazy fever. I always thought she was going to get better but… Jake and Bonnie are my aunt and uncle on my dad's side. They have their other son and I can tell that they never wanted more. They put up with me and give me an allowance though. Probably just out of respect for my dad or something." She chuckles a bit, "I can't believe I'm actually telling you this. It may be surprising but on the day of the field trip I dragged my self out of bed and told myself 'I'm going to go make friends. I'm going to move on.' I've spent the last couple months closing in on myself, but I'm finally starting to get back to my old self. Thank you."

Wow, I don't know how to respond to that. She just opened up to me in a major way and I've only known her for like two days. She told me everything about her while knowing so little about me, if she trusts me this much; I'm just going to have to return the favor. So I told her everything, well almost everything, I left out the Peachtree's punishments mostly because I didn't want to talk about it, but everything else.

When I'm done she's staring at me. "Oh god, Peter."

I wave her off, "I've learned how to deal with it. For a long time I thought that I would just have to live like this. But now." I hold my clenched fist in front of me, "Now I don't have to put up with anything." With this strength, I'd like to see Carl try and hit me.

Kitty seems concerned when she looks at me, "Look Peter, I know you've had it-"

"Well look who it is." We both turn to see Mary Jane with another boy standing on the edge of our booth. "When you didn't show up to school today people started guessing that Flash went over to your place and trashed you for beating him. Turns out you were just playing hooky with the new girl." She smirks and takes a seat in the table closest to ours. The boy she's with looks at us apologetically and sits down.

I'm about to tell her to fuck off again but Kitty talks before I get the chance, "Wait you mean Flash wasn't at school either?"

The boy sneers at me, I recognize him now. He's Harry Osborn son of Norman Osborn and heir to Oscorp. Last I heard he was going out with Mary Jane although I hardly try to keep up with social crap. "After what your boyfriend did to him I'm pretty sure he's in the hospital." Crap, Kitty turns back to me wide eyed, "Hospital! Peter what did you do? You could have killed him!"

I raise my hands in defense annoyed that I even have to defend myself. "He could have killed me! He's been beating the crap out of me for years! Besides at worst I broke his hand." She lets out a sigh, but I give her a dark look as I stand from the booth, I was dumb to think she was on my side. Doesn't she realize that I'm the victim here? "But believe me the next time he tries it I'll break everything else."

As I walk out I can hear Mary Jane from the restaurant. "See Harry, Now that's a man!"

After I left Kitty at the restaurant, I wandered around New York for an hour angry and frustrated. Angry about the whole situation, frustrated because I probably could have handled it better, and then angry again because I'm actually upset with myself for yelling at Kitty. I need to vent.

So now I'm in front of the Belladonna's prepared for the worst. When I walk in Carl and Lauren are both sitting at the kitchen table looking over some papers, Carl has his reading glasses on and I can see bandages wrapped around his head, probably from yesterday. Needless to say as soon I walk in they both stop what they were doing. It takes Carl about three seconds to go from surprise to rage. His chair falls over as he all but jumps out of it, footsteps hammering on the dirty tile, "You've got a lot of nerve coming back here worm!" I watch passively as he comes closer, his fists already clenched. I feel my own anger, still charged with rage from my toes to my fingertips. I'm gong to enjoy this.

His heavy fist comes in to try and punch me in the gut, I side step and push him from behind and he goes right past me stumbling out the front door. There are no people around but Carl looks taken aback that this beating is about to be public. He doesn't realize that it's his beating though. "What's wrong Carl? Afraid to beat a kid in broad daylight?"

He looks nervous eyes darting around, "What are you talking about Peter? Let's get back inside before you mother get's worried." He walks closer to me and I let him grab my arm.

When he tries to drag me back to the house I simply stand strong and he stumbles not expecting me to be so sturdy. "My mother is dead Carl." I use my free arm to grab the back of Carl's shirt and toss him overhead; I slam him down hard on the ground. "So I'm stuck here, with you." Before he can get up I plant a firm punch into his gut, I make sure to hold back enough not to rupture anything. "But now things are going to work differently. He tries to roll to the side but I punch my as hard as I can at the ground next to his head, the asphalt cracks and Carl freezes in place, eyes locked on my fist. "Nod if you understand me Carl." He shakes his head rapidly sweat beading on his greasy forehead. "I'm moving out today. Today the mail came and your going to give me the foster care check for five hundred and twenty dollars." He nods again, attempting to roll the other way so I smash my fist into the asphalt on the other side of him. "And your going to give me every other check you get from foster care is that understood?" He nods frantically. I lean in close to him, close enough that that I can smell his putrid breath. "Because if you don't I will destroy EVERYTHING that you are. Do you understand Carl?" He looks about ready to piss himself. I get up and watch him scramble to his feet before running to the house. He comes out thirty seconds later holing an envelope. He stops about ten feet in front of me unsure of himself. "You have to hand it to me Carl." He takes another few steps tentatively. When he's within arms reach, I step forward suddenly and almost laugh when he falls backwards in surprise. I grab the check from his hands and turn away from him.

I'm never going to live at the Belladonna's again. Unfortunately my options are fairly limited. No one in New York will rent an apartment to a fifteen year old. After it got dark I went to a hotel but with the current rate of eighty dollars a night I can only afford to stay here for so long.

I sigh and lean back on the bed. The nicest bed I've laid on my entire life. "I can't afford to say here though. I need cash." Good thing I know where to find it. Tomorrows Friday so after school tomorrow, that's when, the rest of my life begins.

I get very mixed reactions when I show up for school the next morning. Most give me wide berth but I notice a few looking at me and giggling, no doubt Mary Jane's doing.

When I get to English class I take a seat in the middle and put my head down waiting for class to start. After not too long I feel a tap on my shoulder and look up to see some one I had never seen before. A guy around my age and build, blue eyes and blond hair spiked up, wearing a blue t-shirt and some jeans. "Hey there." He smiles at me warmly, "I'm starting here today names Robert Drake but everyone calls me Bobby!" I look at him for a sec before putting my head back on my desk. I don't need to make friends with every new kid that starts here. I can hear him lean back into his chair, he whispers under his breath, but my keen senses pick up on his words, "-know, I know. But he doesn't seem very friendly….Ugh, fine I'll try and make contact with the other one." Great the new kid talks to him self, as if I didn't have enough problems without sitting next to the wack job.

Next is P.E. In the locker room I notice Flash isn't in here, fine by me. Today's exercise is a one and a half mile jog. The goal is to be done in twenty minutes. I normally hover at around eighteen to nineteen minutes, today I finish in six barely winded.

After class I go straight to Math to take my seat. Not long after I arrive Kitty takes her seat beside mine. I want to apologize, I didn't actually do anything wrong but apparently she thinks I did; but I also can't bring myself to do it. I've spent most of my life not caring about the people around me and I don't see any reason to stop now. I glance at her from my peripheral vision; she's chewing on her pencil eraser glancing at me every so often. I can tell that she wants to talk to me. I hear a clatter and look over to see that she dropped her pencil, she stares at he fingers for a few seconds before picking it up again. Maybe she didn't drop it.

Ultimately class ended without the two of us saying a word to each other so I went alone to lunch. I use some of the cash from the check to pay for food and take a seat by myself. Everyone gives me plenty of space. Except for one girl. Gwen Stacey sits down in front of me with her bagged lunch, like that's normal. I remember telling my self to acknowledge her so I clear my throat of food and say, "Hey."

She smiles at me in response, "Hello." Then she goes back to eating her sandwich. What the hell? Fine then if she wants to play it that way I'm the master of aloofness. I use my spork to eat my mac and cheese. "You never say hi. Did you need to beat up Flash to get your confidence back?"

I almost scoff, "I never lost my confidence. I never say hi be cause hi is a greeting. The dictionary definition for greeting is to 'show people that you are happy to meet or see them' or 'express good wishes for someone.' I rarely have a reason to greet anyone." I notice another blond figure walk in our direction clearly intent on sitting at our table after a second I realize who it is. Godamn it.

"Hey guys!" Bobby says as he sits down next to Gwen.

Gwen gestures to him, "Peter this is-"

Bobby waves her off, "We know each other already, Peter and I sit next to each other in first period." He gives a smile and goes back to eating his mashed potatoes. I didn't say a word to him all class! For a year and a half no one but Flash bothered me, now I have Kitty, Gwen, Mary Jane, and I guess Bobby all annoying me. Maybe I'm losing my touch.

Gwen turns back to me, as Bobby seems intent on cleaning his plate. "But you said hi to me. That must mean you're happy to se me right? Well that's good, I know that you've had It rough and I realize I probably could have tried to help you. Er, what I'm trying to say is that I'm sorry. I realize this is weird coming from somebody you don't know but if you ever need a friend or just someone to talk to, you can ask me."

Wow, that was, odd. She is right, I do barely know her why would she all of a sudden decide to be so friendly? Whatever It's not like I'm planning to take her up on her offer, and she doesn't look like she's looking for a response so I eat the rest of my meal in silence and head off to health.

When I get to class I notice Bobby has gotten here before me and is sitting in the front of the class, so I naturally take the farthest seat in the back. Unfortunately that puts me right next to Mary Jane. "Hey tiger."

I turn my head to glare at her, because of her gossiping I've had to deal with an absurd amount of stares and giggling throughout my day. "Kitty and I aren't dating."

She lets out a small laugh, "I know."

She knows! "Then why did you spread those rumors?"

"Some times," she's looking at me with her legs crossed and her chin resting in her hand. "You just want to know how people will react, it's a good way to get to know someone." I don't like the sound of that at all. What is it with people trying to get to know me lately? "I can see why your upset though." At least she's not completely stupid. "I've been learning about you but you still don't know much about me." Scratch that. "So to be fair ask me anything you want. What about me are you curios about?"

That's easy, "Nothing. Leave me alone." I turn to the front of the class as the teacher walks in.

Mary Jane chuckles next to me, "Exactly what I thought you would say." God she's annoying. The teacher tells us to open up our books so I reach into my bag to get mine, I hear a shuffling and when I look up I see Mary Jane has scooted her desk to mine. I look at her, annoyed. "Mind sharing your book with me? I forgot mine."

I've read that it's important to be very direct and clear when dealing with women. "Yes, leave me alone."

She makes no action to move, "Relax you don't need to pretend around me." Pretend? She pulls my book so that it's on the crack between our desks and begins flipping to the needed page. "You aren't as bad as you think you are. I'm training to be an actress, I can tell when someone is pretending to be someone their not." Obviously she's not a good one because I'm not pretending about anything. I don't want her here, she annoys me, and I really wish to never have to deal with her again. However that doesn't seem likely so I just deal with it and try my best to ignore her for the rest of class.

After what must have been the longest health class ever I finally escape Mary Jane to the comforts of chemistry. When I get there Kitty is already sitting at our table. I take the seat next to her, the air feeling awkward between us. "Hey Peter." I turn my head to acknowledge her. "Listen I just want to say that I'm sorry okay? I talked to some people in my other classes and I didn't realize how bad things were for you. I know you don't want any pity so all I'm saying is that I understand what happened between you and Flash. I was wrong to judge without all the facts. But can you please not kill anybody?"

I guess I can forgive her, it's not like she's the only one in the wrong. "I didn't have to be so brutal about it. You were right, I lost control, I wouldn't actually kill Flash. So fine, I promise to show restraint." But only because after Wednesday I would be the prime suspect.

She holds out her hand, "Friends?"

I reach forward with my own surprisingly happy with how this went, "Friends." Maybe it's okay to care for a few people.

To prepare for the test on Monday our teacher decided it would be beneficial to have an extra credit competition. She passed out a piece of paper to everyone and the four people that answered the best would compete for five extra points. It's a negligible amount, enough to cover for one incorrect answer, I probably don't even need the points, but this kind of thing brings out my competitive side. After the initial round it's Me, Kitty, Gwen Stacy, and another girl by the name of Jessica Jones competing for the prize. The teacher would call out a question and we had thirty seconds to write it on our mini white boards and show it to her, one wrong answer and your out. After three rounds Jessica is eliminated and Ms. Z started ramping up the difficulty. After two more Kitty takes a seat and it's just Gwen and I. I'm actually impressed, Ms. Z is definitely not holding back now, I'm pretty sure she never expected anyone to get this far as she's now asking questions from chapters we haven't covered yet. We're almost out of class time and I can tell that this has to be the last question.

"Ok if you both get this one right then I guess you'll both get the extra points, if you both get it wrong I'll give you both one point. Final question: glycolysis breaks down one molecule of glucose into two molecules of what?" I grab my marker and put it to the white board only to realize that I don't know the answer! I glance at Gwen across the room and see that she's already written hers down. Crap I know this one too, peryite? That sounds familiar. I write it down. When we both show our boards the teacher smiles, "An excellent job from the two of you, simply superb, however Mr. Parker what I was looking for was pyruvate, the points go to Ms. Stacy!"

Pyruvate! Of course, I can't bring myself to be mad over my loss though. Gwen was certainly the one who could have pushed me so far, although I never realized exactly how good she was until today.

As I'm leaving school Gwen walks up to me, "Wow that competition was really fun! I got lucky with that last question, you really know your stuff though."

I grin, it's nice to be acknowledged, "Thanks, I'm impressed with how much you know."

She smiles back, "Thanks I'll need it if I'm going to be a bio chem major. You busy now? Maybe we could get something to eat?"

I'm tempted to go; I may have finally found some one smart enough to bounce some of my ideas off of. Heck with her bio chem knowledge maybe she knows what's going on with my body. "I'm busy today, maybe another time." But I need to prepare for tonight.

After I leave I head to a hobby shop. Having a disguise would be nice. I pick up a red morph suit and head to the hotel. After it's dark, I'm on the roof wearing the morph suit, black jeans with my grey hoody, hood pulled up over my head. I take a deep breath, and then I run. When I reach the edge of the roof I jump with no hesitation and land on another roof, I continue roof-hopping feeling like I'm flying through the air. It's so easy! I'm actually enjoying myself. Enjoying myself so much that I almost miss my destination. Then I hear a gunshot; unlike before when I would ignore it I change course to find the source.

I end up crouched over an alley. A man who is obviously bad news is rifling through the pockets of a prone figure on the street. I wait until he finally finds a wallet and pockets the cash before I drop down. He turns suddenly when I land crouched behind him, gun out in a second. "Who the hell are you?" I say nothing but lift my head so he sees the featureless red face of my suit. "Don't want to talk ey? Well I'll make sure you never speak again!"

Now I'm fast, really fast, but not faster than a bullet. Fortunately I don't have to be. My sense alerts me right before he fires, before his finger can fully pull the trigger I'm already out of the line of fire. The bullet hits the ground where I used to be and the thugs face, well it makes me smile. Before he can re aim I'm on top of him barely holding back I slam my fist into the side of his face and he hits the brick wall hard. I wait for a second before searching him to make sure that he's out. I open his backpack and find almost four hundred dollars, no doubt from his other victims tonight. Now I really smile.

I had thought about being this guy, mugging random civilians. It's not like I care what happens to them. However the problem is how inefficient it is. No one carries large amounts of cash, in order to make it worth the risk I would have to rob a large number of people. But then I thought; if that's what these guys do they must have a large amount on them right? If I mug the muggers It's like stealing from a ten people at once, much more efficient.

I swing his bag over my shoulder after putting the gun in it; you never know when it might come in handy. As soon as I start to leave I hear another gun shot and I'm already running.

I spent the whole night running after muggers. Because I was waiting for the sound of a gunshot to pick my destination I didn't actually save anyone. Four people died last night, but I made almost two grand and they would have died no matter what I did so I just shrug it off. I ended up keeping my promise to Kitty and the first guy I found got it the worst, with a concussion and probably a fractured skull, he was breathing when I left at least.

After a long night I sleep in till around one pm. When I do wake up I pay for the next week of rent before going out to shop. I don't care much for fashion however I would like clothes that fit naturally that maybe I haven't had since the seventh grade. I spend about two hundred dollars buying new jeans, t-shirts, and jackets. Now I'm at least not obviously poor. By the time I'm done it's almost dark so I head back to the hotel. When I leave again it's dressed in red with my old clothes on, no need to rough up the new ones.

I make about half as much as I did the night before, I guess people tend to go out more on Friday nights. The next morning I'm able to wake up earlier, my body and sleep cycle adjust extraordinarily fast, yesterday I slept in till one, today I woke up at eleven. I spend the day walking around the city, I didn't go out to shop but I still end up coming home with a few pairs of shoes and a couple of beanies, it's starting to get cold. I have time to finish all of my homework before I'm on the roof again.

"What the hell?" It's been almost an hour past when I normally hear my first gunshot. Maybe I scared off the usual gang that hangs around here. 'BANG' guess not. It's close so I'm there in under a minute. I know I can handle any thug so I jump down as soon as I get there. My danger sense goes off but I ignore it landing gracefully on the ground. I look up expecting to see a thug and a dead body. Instead I see four guys, crap. I turn to jump up the wall when my sense goes off and I have to take a step back to dodge a bullet. None of the guys in front of me shot it though. I scan the alley and realize that there are guys in every window pointing guns at me. I can dodge one guy with a gun; I don't want to try it with twenty. I slowly raise my hands to avoid getting shot and the lead guy steps aside and with his gun, points to a truck that's parked in front of the alleyway. Man I really do not want to go with these guys! I look left for any sort of opening but as soon as I look I have to take a step to avoid another shot. With no other choice I slowly walk into the middle isle of the large suv with two guys beside me and one in the front and back, not including the driver. The windows are covered from the inside so I have no idea where we're going. We drive for about twenty minutes, me at gunpoint the whole time. I try several times to ask where they're taking me, each attempt met with silence. I can see bruises on a couple of their faces and I can tell that I've 'met' some of these guys over the last two days.

When the car finally comes to a stop I'm ushered out the same way they got me in, when I step out we are behind what must be a large business building in an alley way surrounded by even more guys with guns. What is going on here? I'm sure I didn't beat up all of them. They open a loading bay garage and we go through into a large service elevator. When we exit it's to a surprisingly nice hallway, shiny wooden floors, lush carpet down the middle, they even have paintings every ten feet. Where the hell am I? We come to a stop in front of an elaborate oak door, two armed guards standing in front of it. "Any chance you'll tell me who's inside?" They don't even acknowledge me.

Finally the doors open and I'm surprised to actually recognize the figure that steps out. Towering over me at about six foot seven feet tall. A massive figure dressed in a fine suit. I know where I am now. The light glints off of his bald head into my eyes. He's on multiple magazine covers, one of New York's big players. Wilson Fisk, the Kingpin.

Ooh things are ramping up now! I probably won't make chapters this long again, I'm just trying to get out of this school phase of the origin and get to spider part! Luckily soon I'll be able to over look it. Peter is about to have problems worse than getting to class on time. Review if you like it!


	3. Defend your territory

It's hard not to be shocked; I went from beating up what I thought were common thugs to standing in the doorway of one of the most influential men in New York. Fisk looks me up and down, before turning and walking back into the room his cane clicking against the hardwood floor he came from. Not sure what to do I follow him in and hear the guards slowly close the door behind us.

The room was the definition of lavish, a huge penthouse suite, couches and chairs surrounding a massive television screen. I can see a kitchen four times the size of my hotel room with expensive looking appliances.

Fisk walks over to a desk and sits on a plush armchair, swiveling around to face me. "Why are you here?" His voice carries around the room, reverberating against every surface. My hands aren't bound, and his guards aren't here. He may be politically powerful but he is just one fat man. I can knock him out loot this place and climb down the side of the building. Probably. Wilson Fisk is no idiot, he probably knows from his men what I'm capable of, and in fact it's probably what he expects. I'll play it safer, maybe I can talk my way out of this.

"Why don't you tell me?" I do my best to keep the fear from my stance as I stand strong and keep my limbs from trembling.

He sighs standing up from his chair, "Don't try to make a fool of Wilson Fisk. You know why you are here. Say it."

Is this a trick question, I'm here because he brought me here aren't I? Does he want more from me, something more specific maybe? He's standing in front of me now, towering over me at his full height. "I'm here because I stole from you?" My sixth sense flares but before I can take a step back I'm already flying across the room. I land over in the kitchen area with a huge pain in my gut. How did he move that fast? "You're faster than you look."

He chuckles, "While this body may not match the societal image of physical fitness my body is conditioned for strength and endurance. My strength is nearly superhuman; you should be dead, or at least unconscious. I guess my boys weren't lying about you." I struggle and am able to get back to my feet as he approaches the kitchen. "I am one of the richest men in this city. You can keep the change you won from my subordinates, I didn't bring you here for petty revenge I'm a businessman. Now tell me, why are you here?"

He's within arms reach now, I'm watching him closely now that I know that my danger sense isn't enough warning with his unnatural speed. He said he's a businessman is that some sort of clue? He knows I have special abilities, maybe wants to use me. "I'm here because you need me for something right, a job?"

He chuckles again, "Want not need, do not make the mistake of forgetting your place. Come." He goes and sits down on one of the couches facing the TV, gesturing for me to sit. I shuffle to the farthest armchair I possibly can from him within the area, still holding my bruised side. The monitor clicks on showing the layout of a building. "This is the New York police department's up town station." He presses a button and it zooms in on a specific room on the top floor. "This is the office of the police Captain." After another press the screen rotates and I'm looking at what I assume is the 3D rendering of the office. "You are going to break in to this office and retrieve a set of files for me."

It's definitely possible, but "I'm not interested." I'm not trying to go to jail to make a quick buck.

"Not even any demands? I'm a very wealthy man you know." He sighs, "Very well then, while the reward should be enough motivation some require more than a carrot in front, if you don't do this, I will destroy you, Peter Parker." How did he? His laughter fills the room, "Haha! Did you really think I would let you in here without knowing who you are? I may not know what you are yet, but believe me that your cheap 'mask' isn't doing you any favors."

Fuck, I throw my hood back and rip the head off of my suit, glaring Fisk in the eyes. "I don't have a choice in this do I?"

"No you don't. But that doesn't mean you need to feel trapped. If you complete this job then you work for me." He gestures to himself, "And I take care of my own. You need a place to live, I can provide, you need food, I can provide, you need supplies, a suit, transportation, technology! I can provide. If you do this for me you will be my personal asset."

I look back at the monitor screen. "What exactly do you need me to get?"

He presses another button on his controller and the room rotates to face the desk, the bottom right drawer opens and a manila folder flies out to face the screen. The file says 'CONFIDENTIAL Case F'. I paid more attention to the layout of the room this time. The huge window on the east wall would make this fast but definitely messy. "I need that folder, and I need it in the next two weeks. You don't need to know what's in it, and if possible I'd like for them not to know what your goal was."

I think with my hand on my chin for a second. This could be difficult, probably a god chance that it won't be as easy as he's making it seem. "Can I bring help and what if I get caught?" If I go in through the front I'll have to get through three floors of cops just to get to the room.

"I can't be affiliated with this, if you get caught there is no rescue party, and don't even try reporting me, no one will believe that I had anything to do with this. As far as help I don't' care. Bring an army if you want, just make sure it get's done. Hopefully by the time they've figured out what was taken I'll have everything I need."

Doable, especially if I can convince Kitty to help, although I'd rather not involve her in this. I'll save it for a last resort. "I'll need a better mask."

He smiles and stands and holds out his right hand. Warily I stand and take a few steps towards him watching his hand warily. When I reach out to shake his hand his gigantic fist squeezes mine with more strength than I thought humanly possible. I grit my teeth and squeeze as hard as him. I can see the surprise on his face. "I'll have an acceptable mask and garb delivered by Tuesday, any preferences?"

I release his hand and think for a second, trying to discretely massage my aching fist. "how about spiders?"

Besides being tired I went through school the next day the same is usual. Finally wearing normal clothes to school I could feel less eyes on me as I blend it. Bobby was absent for English making it actually enjoyable and even with the growing bruise on my stomach P.E. was a breeze.

When I get to math I see Kitty, she smiles at me and sits down. "Oh my god Peter you'll never guess what I found out."

She looks so exited I can't help but be a bit curious. "Did you figure out your 'situation'?"

Her smile gets even wider; "Yeah actually Bobby helped me with it."

I almost jump out of my desk, "You told Bobby! Did you tell him about me? How do you know we can trust him?" What the hell is wrong with her you can't just tell everybody about this stuff.

She waves me off, "'We' can trust him? I didn't realize that my 'abilities' were your responsibility. But no I didn't tell him about you, he already knew. Either way I know we can trust him because he's like us. You should meet him."

Like us? "When you say like us you mean,"

"Yup, he's a mutant too! He says he's a part of a whole group of mutants who help each other out. He says he came here to help us." I don't like the sound of this. Happy dopey Robert Drake is actually the chosen representative of a new age mutant organization. I don't know how he knew about us either. Are we the only reason he's at school? "He want's me to go with him back to their institute, I told him to give me time to think about it. I wanted to talk to you about it first. With the way our families are….. well I just thought maybe we could get a fresh start. Together."

I can't say it isn't an appealing thought, an organization of mutants to back me up, maybe they could even protect me from Fisk. But I've never needed anyone's protection before and this situation is questionable at best. With the way Kitty is looking at me I can tell that she will go with whatever I choose. If it were just me I would tell Bobby to fuck off, but now I have to think about what's best for her too. I need more information. "I need to talk to Bobby."

After class Kitty got a text from Bobby that he had something he had to do but would meet with me after school. Kitty had to be home early so I told her to give Bobby directions to the junkyard so he can meet me there.

After class we walk to the cafeteria and sit across from each other at my usual table. Kitty is telling me about this miracle chemical fluid being developed by Oscorp. "Yeah they call it living metal. I think they plan on using it for airplanes or something."

As I'm about to respond I notice Gwen walk up to our table from behind Kitty. "Mind if I sit with you guys?" I shake my head no and she takes the seat next to Kitty before holding out her hand, "Hi your Katherine right? I'm Gwen Stacey I remember you from the extra credit game on Friday but I don't believe we met."

Kitty returns the greeting, "Katherine Pryde. Nice to meet you. Have you been reading about some of the breakthroughs they've made at Oscorp?"

Gwen nods enthusiastically, "Yeah, I'm actually really interested in a lot of their programs, I actually just got accepted for an internship program there."

Kitty's eyes almost bug out of her head, "Oh my god that's awesome!" I look at the two of them animatedly talking only butting in every now and then to offer a personal opinion. This is what it's like to have friends. It's hard not to smile; I'm enjoying this. I think that this life style is something that I want to protect. If anyone messes with Kitty, or Gwen to a lesser extent; I would definitely protect my friends. I'm going to protect this life style.

After lunch I manage to sit far away from Mary Jane and Bobby is a no show so I actually get some sleep.

During Chemistry we have the test so not much happened. It's not too difficult so I finish early and start heading over to the junk yard to meet with Bobby.

When I get there I can see that Bobby is already there, going through his phone, when he notices me he puts the phone in his pocket and jumps to his feet, holding out a hand for me, "Hey Peter! Glad you could make it." I ignore his hand and walk past him to sit on my favorite car hood. I can hear him mutter "Friendly" under his breath.

"Kitty gave me the abridged version. Show me what you can do, and then tell me why you're here."

He smirks, holding out his hand towards a pile of junk. "Check this out." A blue burst of frost comes out of his hand leaving the surface of the junk covered in a layer of solid ice.

I walk over to it and touch it myself feeling the ice. "Ok, now talk."

He looks disappointed, maybe he thought I would be impressed, as if. "Right well first of all you know what a mutant is right?"

I think everyone knows what a mutation is, I'm just gonna assume he's referring to human mutation. "I've heard some speculation, but nothing concrete." There have been more and more cases of bizarre circumstances popping up.

"We're more than speculation, there is a recursive gene called the _mutant X gene _that has been growing more prevalent since the forties. People with abilities like Katherine and I. There is a wise and powerful mutant that is trying to gather us all together, he believes that the humans won't accept us when this information reaches the general public. Regardless of whether that actually happens we should all stick together and have a unified message for when people do come to us."

I cross my arms in speculation. Given what I've seen I'm in no position to doubt him but there is still one thing bothering me. "You still haven't said how you found me."

"Professor Xavier, the powerful mutant I mentioned earlier is a psychic. He built a machine that lets him sense all the mutants in the country, he's working on improving it so we can recruit internationally." He gestures with his arms as he talks.

"Then how did he find me? You seem to know I have abilities, but I am not a mutant. I got my powers in another way." Something about his wording bothers me too, "also why do you keep saying recruit? You want us to come with you but where and to do what?"

He sighs and takes a seat. "He actually didn't notice you until I got close. I came to find Katherine but when I walked past you in the hall the Professor sensed you were different from the humans through me. The professor has a school, 'Xavier's school for gifted youngsters.' He's taking in any mutant that wants sanctuary including you, but…." There's always a but. "There are a few of us who want to help others. If you're wiling we're assembling a team, a group of people that go around helping others with our abilities. If you aren't interested we still extend our protection to You and Katherine. You won't find any place safer."

I thought so; I scoff and stand up slinging my bag over my shoulder. "I don't need your protection."

"Peter wait!" He reaches to put his hand on my shoulder but before he can; I grab his wrist and throw him over my shoulder. He lands in a heap in front of me. "You realize that Katherine is looking to you for guidance right? You have to think about what's best for her too! Can you protect her?"

I take off my bag and throw it back onto the car hood. "I will, Kitty is my friend and I'll protect her. This is my life now! No one else will tell me what to do!"

"Fine then. Bobby gets to his feet, fists balled. "If you think that you can protect the two of you than prove it!" I take a step as the sclera and pupils of his eyes turn radiant blue to match his cornea. His fists cover themselves in a layer of frost. "If you can beat me than I'll admit that you're right and leave you alone. If not you at least convince Katherine to come with us as you can't protect her."

He's trying to take my friend away, my new life away. I will protect it. I raise my fists, the look in my eyes enough of an answer. "If I win I don't care what you admit. I want you gone." He nods his head and I smirk. "Don't expect me to hold back."


	4. Birth of a legend

"Last chance to back out Peter." It really is, Bobby is member of a secret organization of mutants, he wont be as easy to take down as a common thug, I might actually be in over my head.

But considering what's at stake, Kitty, My life here. Surrendering just isn't an option. "Not a chance Drake." Not only that but I have the advantage here. I know what Bobby is capable of; he has no idea what I've got.

My sixth senses goes off as he strikes out first, his hand reaches out towards me and I can feel the cool air overhead as I duck under the blast. I get ready to spring at him with a counter attack but am forced to instead jump back to dodge another blast. I doubt Bobby would actually try to kill me but I'd rather not get hit by a blast of concentrated cold like that. I'm too slow to dodge an icicle and earn a shallow cut across my face for it before I jump back. He stands in place and continuously fires at me while I'm forced to dodge blast after blast. I take cover behind a pile of junk as he continues to throw out cold. "What's wrong Peter? If you can't handle even this how are you going to protect Kitty when the time comes?"

I try and peak out at him but am forced back behind cover as he nearly freezes my face. God this is frustrating, if only I could get close to him. "Why don't you come fight me like a man Drake!"

"Do you think that the mutant haters will fight fair?" The blasts persist but I can tell that his voice is getting closer. Is it possible that he's tired of this too? "Ordinary people will be scared of us, they will find ways to hurt us."

I'm done hiding. As soon as I judge him close enough I jump over my cover and attack him from above, I cock my fist back and slug Bobby in the face. He starts to stumble and I quickly get in another punch before my sense sparks up and I'm forced to dodge another concentrated ray of cold. "Ha you're too slow Bobby!"

I land about a meter away from him. "How are you doing that?" Just as I thought, he has no idea of what my abilities are. "Advanced reflexes? You know my secrets, what are you packing Peter?"

I dodge an ice beam and he blocks my next punch. "Who knows?" I land a kick to his jaw but he raises an ice shield before I can follow up. "Maybe it's precognition." I kick off of a pile of junk and punch at his shield as hard as I can. It holds strong but Bobby slides a few feet while I'm left shaking off my hand. "Man that's a sturdy shied!"

The ice shield melts back away and Bobby flexes his wrist. "And you've got a hell of a punch." He looks me up and down, "For a guy your size, I wouldn't think it was possible to create that amount of force."

I just shrug. "Looks can be deceiving." I crouch ready for his next attack.

Bobby turns his head to the side and cracks his neck. "Alright Parker, time to take the kid gloves off." The ice covering his fists slowly extends until his entire body is a blue shimmering Bobbysicle. "You've just been running away. See if you can keep up with this!" He jumps in the air and aims his hands to the ground, a slide of ice comes into existence and he slides down it incredibly fast coming straight at me! With my fast reflexes I'm able to dodge him, but by the time I turn around he's sliding through the air on another ramp. "Let's see how long you can dodge me for!" I start running to dodge ice beams as he shoots them from his ramp parallel to my path. I try to pounce at him when he get's close but he just angles away from me mid air forcing me back on defense. His ability to maneuver mid air is ridiculous! If only I had something that would let me keep up this would be over already.

Hmm, looking around our battlefield maybe there is a away I can keep up. From our constant cycle of dodge and attack there's a lattice of overlapping icy trails just starting to melt. I can work with this. Bobby fires an ice beam and to dodge I jump into the air. I land on one of his previously used platforms and use my powers to stick to the slippery ice. I can do this, with my powers the slippery icy labyrinth is only as hard to traverse as a jungle gym. As Bobby continues to shoot at me, I dodge, jump, flip, and climb every action bringing me a little closer. Bobby notices this and raises his altitude, on a platform maybe thirty feet overhead. Big mistake. Before he realizes he's messed up I jump as high as I can and my fingers brush the bottom of his ice path. That's all I need though. I climb over the side to crouch on the platform as fast as I can.

I'm crouched right behind Bobby ready to attack. I can see him turn and start to raise his arm to defend as I spring at him fist cocked but it's already too late. When my fist hit his skull, I knock the ice right off of his face and the two of us both fall off of the platform. I don't let up though, the entire trip back to earth I'm holding his shirt with my left hand and pummeling him with my right, just before we hit the ground I grab him from both sides and drive my knees into his chest, slamming him on the ground.

The ice around us starts to melt, his nose is broken, maybe a rib too. I don't even think he's conscious but I'm sure he can hear me somewhere deep down and I have a message to get across. I lean down to his ear and can hear his breathing in mine showing he's alive. "Kitty, stays with me. Believe me, if you or anybody else tries to mess with my life, I'll kill them."

I leave Bobby lying on the ground in the junkyard and head home to catch some rest, the adrenaline was keeping me going but I haven't had a full nights sleep for almost five days and that fight really wore me out. I ignore the cut on my face as I lie down to sleep; cleaning the sheets is the maid's job anyway.

When I get to school the next day I'm happy to note that Bobby isn't in class. In fact the teacher makes a short announcement that he's actually been transferred to another school. It isn't easy to contain my smile.

While I'm changing in the locker room for P.E.; I notice the entire room go silent. I shove my arms through the sleeves of my shirt and turn to see Flash walking through the door. His arm is in a cast, he looks my way before quickly averting his gaze, I can almost see him sweat. Doing his best to avoid eye contact he quickly walks to the gym teacher's office before leaving. That's when I know that today is going to be a good day.

Or at least until I get to math. Kitty get's there before me and as soon as I walk in I can feel her looking at me. Okay more like glaring, intently. Still not one to be ruffled I walk over to my now usual seat and sit down pulling out my notebook. Expectedly she's the first one to talk, she starts 'whisper yelling' at me as soon as I look her way, "What the hell did you do Peter!"

Faking innocence I answer back with raised shoulders, "Your going to have to be more specific."

If possible her gaze becomes even more intense "Don't you play dumb! I told you to talk to Bobby yesterday and now he's gone! What happened? And what's with your face?"

I sigh, if I was hoping to avoid this but if I know anything about Kitty it's that she's not the kind of person to just forget about stuff like this. "Listen, I heard his pitch and I didn't like it. I told him the truth: we don't need him. Why would we when we have each other? And the scar was an accident." Honestly the logic is sound to me and I did accidentally get hit, I'd planned on dodging.

Her glare lessens a bit, "I mean I guess that's true but why did you make him leave? We could have still been friends. I think it would be good to stick with others like us."

Now it's time for half-truths, "He was only here to recruit us, after I turned him down I guess he moved on to the next school." I did make him leave but he probably would have left anyway.

She sighs, her angry demeanor disappearing completely. "Fine but we should really talk abo-" She pauses as our teacher walks through the door, "we'll talk about this at lunch."

After class Kitty and I walk together to the cafeteria we get there fast enough that the line isn't very long. Kitty frantically checks her backpack before turning to me, "Oh my god Peter, I blanked this morning and forgot to grab any cash, do you think you could spot me this one time? I promise I'll pay you back tomorrow I'm just starving!" Her stomach growls to prove her point.

I chuckle and reach for my wallet. "Don't worry about it. This is what friends do right?" It sounds rhetorical but it's partly a real question as well, I'm still new at this. I don't really care about the money anyway, while it's probably not a good idea to go about robbing Fisk anymore he didn't make me give any of the money back so I've got quite a few savings. I'll have even more when I pull off this job.

After I hand her the couple of dollars for lunch we sit down at our table and start eating. Only a few minutes later we're joined by Gwen who sits down and starts animatedly talking to Kitty. I just sit back and enjoy the atmosphere until I notice red out of the corner of my eye. "Hey there tiger."

Mary Jane sets her tray down next to mine. "What do you want?"

The day was going so well too. Kitty turns to me shocked, "Don't be so rude Peter!" She holds out her hand to Mary Jane, "Hi we met before but I never actually introduced myself. I'm Katherine Pryde."

MJ takes the hand, "Mary Jane Watson, everyone calls me MJ though." She smiles at Gwen, "Stacy."

Gwen glares coldly back, "Watson." The animosity is very clear in the air.

Clearly there's something between the two that I don't know about. Actually I don't care about it either. Right now I just want Mary gone. "Don't you normally eat lunch somewhere else? Anywhere else?"

She just smiles at me and tosses another french-fry in her mouth, "Yeah but recently you seem more interesting."

I humph and finish my burger, "Well I'm not, can you leave now?"

She ignores me and continues talking, "Everyone is talking about how Flash is back, but I'm more interested in why the new kid left." I do not like where this is going. "You put Flash in the hospital, it's no secret you didn't like Bobby. Couple people think that we'd find him in the hospital. I wonder if you had anything to do with it?"

There's silence for a second before Gwen speaks up, "Your out of line Watson, you can't just go around accusing people of things!"

Mary Jane raises her hands in defense, "I'm just saying what everybody else is thinking."

I look up from my plate to see Kitty looking at me warily, "The scar on your face. Peter, you, you wouldn't, I mean you didn't right?" I did, but it wasn't like that. I doubt Kitty would understand anyway.

Before I can answer Gwen turns from Mary Jane to stare shocked at Kitty, "Of course Peter didn't. He may have fought Flash but Flash had been harassing him for years! Peter isn't the type of guy to go around picking fights." Even if she's wrong it's good to have someone on my side.

There's a shuffling as Mary Jane stands up with her tray, "It would appear that you three have some things to discuss, I'll see you in health Peter." She winks at me and walks off. God I hate her.

When I turn back to the table Kitty and Gwen are arguing. "You don't know him like I do you don't get to look at me like that!"

"Know him like you do? You've barely known him a week! Peter and I have been going to the same school since the sixth grade!"

"Then why did you let him get bullied for years!" By now the entire cafeteria is watching as their argument progresses closer to a fight.

I need to stop this. "Kitty, Gwen." They both stop their argument to look at me. Now how do I do this without admitting to fighting Bobby, "I barely knew Bobby, I don't know where he is or why he's there but I'm sure he has his reasons. Lunch is almost over, let's go." I grab my tray and walk towards the trash, there's a moment where the entire room is dead silent before the usual din of the lunchroom fills the background. I can hear Kitty and Gwen walking behind me silently.

Somehow when I get to the health room Mary Jane is no where to be seen, this is extra suspicious as she left almost five minutes before I did. I sit down feeling uneasy. Other students start to fill in the empty seats, one of the last ones to walk in is Mary Jane who smiles at me and takes the seat next to mine. "Hey tiger."

I'm too annoyed to look at her so I continue looking straight ahead. "Why did you do that?"

"Do wha-"

"Don't act dumb." She's dumb enough as is. "You deliberately tried to start a fight and left as soon at they started arguing. What's your play?"

She laughs, "My play? Maybe I just wanted to figure out what your company thinks of you? I wasn't sure about Gwen but I really thought that Katherine girl would come to your defense, aren't you surprised too?"

I try and filter out all the useless information. "Why do you care what my friends think of me?"

She frowns, "You're missing the point Peter."

"No you're dodging the point. Why are you so interested in meddling in my life? First you spread rumors about Kitty and I around school and next you come to my table and start a fight!" The more I talk the more heated I become.

"I didn't-"

"You did! Don't even try and deny it." The whole room is silent and looking at me but I don't care. I glare darkly at Mary Jane, "This is your only warning. I'm a bad enemy to have."

All eyes are on us as Mary Jane smiles and leans close to me. She whispers in my ear, "Looking forward to it."

In chemistry the air between Kitty and Gwen is still awkward so I don't really talk to either of them for the whole class.

After school Gwen asks me if I want to tour Oscorp after school, and as much as I want to go I decline. I need to do some recon.

When I walk through the hotel lobby I hear the receptionist call out to me, a short mousey girl with glasses "Um excuse me, Mr. Parker." I walk over to the desk looking mildly annoyed. I have things to do today. "Right, uh I got a package dropped off here for you earlier."

I raise an eyebrow, "Don't you normally send those to the room?"

She fidgets with her hands as she talks, "Right but these guys came by and they had this package for you, and they said no one can get the package but you, and I-"

I raise a hand to stop her babbling "Alright, I get it. So where is it?"

She goes around to the back and drags a five by five by five box from the back storage area. "Do you need a bellman's cart? It's really heavy."

I shrug reach down to grab the box from her hands. With my strength the weight is nothing. I smirk at the receptionist as I hold the box with one hand. "Thanks."

When I get back to my room the first thing I do is tear open the box. The first thing on the inside is a letter.

[ _To Mr. Parker,_

_In this box contains the first of many of the benefits with being backed by me. Inside you'll find a custom helmet outfitted with the finest technology, as well as a matching suit. In addition to concealing your identity they both have a number of other features all of which explained in the attached manual. My designers did their best to integrate the spider theme you asked for._

_Enjoy your toys, Spider _

_From, your ally._

_P.s. Obviously destroy this letter after reading ]_

I take the letter and put it aside as I pull the contents out of the package. A shining burgundy helmet with huge black eyes looks back at me. A black spider web pattern spread across the front. I smile like a child on Christmas morning, I might actually enjoy this."

_Ooh baby now we're getting started. With the suit and a plan I think it's almost time for the world to meet the Spider. What do you guys think of that name? I'm not quite set on it, Spider, Spider man, anything else. If you've got an idea for his identity leave a review with it or pm me or something._

_Thanks for reading please review!_


	5. Spider's first webs

I smile as I jump from roof to roof, it's like I'm flying! I grab a flagpole and use it to springboard over a busy street. I stick to the side of the building and crawl my way up, feeling more powerful than ever. I sit perched on the roof of a large building and catch my breath while I analyze my suit through my new helmet. I see an array of different things as I cycle through the filters. I've got infrared, X-ray, night vision, and two more I don't even know what they do, I was too exited to finish the manual. The entire suit has a dark red finish with black web like designs along the outside. The pants are the same hue with a black utility belt separating them. Bullet proof padding on the chest and arms, and insulated to maintain body temperature. The helmet is amazing, the note didn't say what it was made of but it's incredibly lightweight for something so sturdy.

Still something's missing. Fisk called me 'Spider' it has a nice ring to it. I look down at my chest where the dull red is marred only by the black webs. I've got some ideas about modifications but for now those will have to wait. I have to earn this suit after all. I crawl around the side of the building and look at its neighbor, the police department.

I don't expect Fisk's information to be wrong but I need to see it myself. Five stories, but the office I need to get to is on the fourth. Large window, with the lights still on, I can see the desk that holds my target as well as the owner of the office, Captain Stacy.

"The only real obstacle." I realize beating up cops is probably going to be harder than fighting thugs, but how much harder can it be? I flex my fist, I can almost dodge bullets and, with this suit I'm mostly bullet proof anyway. And without their guns they are only human.

I climb up to the roof of the building I'm on before making a running jump to land on the police station. "If I go in from the top that's only two floors to fight through instead of four, I need to figure out what's on this top floor.

[Next day lunch]

Gwen raises an eyebrow curiously, "My dad?"

"Yeah." I shrug nonchalantly, "I saw him in the newspaper last week, and I didn't realize your dad was so cool." Kitty is silent due to the sheer amount of noodles in her mouth; girl loves spaghetti.

She blushes a bit, "I mean, are you really interested in all that cop stuff? I never figured you for a hero." Her grin is almost mocking.

I grin back, "What you don't think I'm heroic?" I feign a hurt expression, "I'm just curious about the job, I still don't know what I want to do after high school."

Gwen looks disdainfully at Kitty for a second before rolling some spaghetti up with her fork and spoon and taking a bite. I think Kitty tries to stick her tongue out at her but there's still too much spaghetti in her mouth for me to be certain. "I mean if you want I could set up like a tour, I'm sure my dad would be glad to show you around."

I'm actually surprised, I though Gwen might know what was on the fifth floor but if I can see it first hand, "That would be really cool actually, when do you think I could go?"

She pulls out her phone, "I'll have to ask ahead, but I think after school on Friday he would be able to."

I hear a coughing to my right as Kitty chokes down the last of her food, when she speaks she's out of breath, "Can I come too? I totally wanna see what it's like, I bet you it's the same as the law and order set!"

Gwen sighs, "I'm sure my dad won't mind. When we go be careful not to touch anything."

Kitty crosses her arms and I decide to speak before another fight can break out, "Good! Friday it is then." I push my half empty bowl of spaghetti towards Kitty. "Want the rest?" She doesn't even hesitate.

Gwen rolls her eyes, "So anyway are you doing anything after school today? You never have time to hang out?"

I chuckle and rub the back of my head, "Yeah sorry about that I'm busy today too. I'm working on a project right now," I still have a few pieces that I'll need to finish my 'project.' "But I promise I'll have some time next week."

Kitty manages to clear her throat for a second, "We'll hold you to that!"

[Friday after school]

After school Gwen, Kitty, and I got on a bus to take us to the police station. The bus route to get us there takes like thirty minutes and I'm wiped from staying up to work on my 'toys', so I decide to catch a nap on the seat next to Kitty while Gwen uses her laptop to start on her homework.

I'm in the middle of a lovely dream when suddenly I feel cold and my face slamming into the side of the bus awakens me. I sit up and rub my jaw as Kitty giggles from the aisle. The confusing part is that she insisted on having a window seat so I was in the aisle. I look at her accusingly and she just shrugs, "I didn't ask you to start leaning on my shoulder."

Oh so that's what happened. "Doesn't mean you have to let me drop." Seriously, I can't believe I spent a whole night keeping watch over her in a junkyard.

There's a click from the seat in front of us and I see Gwen put her laptop away. She turns to us, "This is our stop, let's go before the bus leaves."

The three of us get out and immediately to our right is the police station. It's a lot more intimidating from the ground. I feel the sudden urge to jump at it and climb to the roof, but ignore it as we walk through the front door. Gwen motions for us to sit in the waiting area while she talks to the officer at the front desk. Kitty leans over to whisper to me, "Hey Peter," she takes her hand and pushes a finger through my arm, the same cold feeling as before washes over me. She moves it back and forth through my arm, "OoOo I'm a ghost!"

"Kitty!" The look in my eyes is stern. She instantly stops and looks at me, "You can't do that here." I look back and forth to make sure no one saw, I need to take this seriously, I've made it my job to protect her. "If someone were to see you."

She puts her hands on her hips indignantly, "Why not? It's not like it's illegal or anything."

I notice Gwen turn to start walking toward us, so I whisper to Kitty, "Just don't for now, we'll talk about this later."

She crosses her arms with a humph, "Fine."

Gwen looks at us suspiciously as she walks up, "What was that about."

I wave her off, "Nothing."

She looks at me expecting more but when it becomes obvious I'm done talking she just continues, "My dad will be here in-"

There's a lout voice behind her, "There's my princess!"

She sighs, "Now."

Behind Gwen is the man that I saw through the window two nights ago; he's a tall imposing blond man wearing a suit. I can just make out the outline of a gun beneath his sports coat. He holds out a hand to me, "Ah you must be Gwen's friends, you're Peter right?"

I shake his hand being careful not to accidentally crush it, "Nice to meet you captain."

He shakes his hand for a second after letting go. "Wow you sure have a strong grip. And you don't need to call me that, I'm fine with Mr. Stacy."

Kitty extends her hand, "I'm Katherine!"

Mr. Stacy meets her outstretched hand with enthusiasm, "It's my pleasure miss Katherine. Now who's ready for a tour?"

Over the course of the whole trip I kept careful note of the schematics of the building. Below the first floor are four small holding cells, currently empty. First floor: mostly a reception area with a few desks, the second floor is mostly desks, that's where the majority of the officers are. The third floor looks the same with a few less desks, apparently that's where the special investigations teams would be if they had running right now. The third floor was full of more officers working at their desks. But really it's the fourth floor I was interested in.

"So your office is on this floor?"

Mr. Stacy smiles back at us, "Well that's right there are only two offices on this floor, One for me, the captain, and one for the district attorney."

I look around the floor, more like a hallway mostly glass windows with a two offices on either side. "So, I know you have a gun, but does the D.A. have one too?" It's nice to know what you're up against.

Mr. Stacy looks at me weirdly, "Well that's not really my business, and neither is it yours,and I actually think that's good for the tour."

Kitty asks my next question for me, "But what about the next floor isn't there one more?"

Mr. Stacy scratches his head, "That's the communications room. That's where they organize who goes to what crime scene and answer emergency 911 calls. We can't really go up there now, wouldn't want to disturb them."

Oh that could be a problem, "So they're there like twenty four hours? That must be tough."

"Not twenty four hours straight, they mostly work twelve hour shifts, we make sure there's always at least one person in there though."

I smile with that drop of information. Sounds like I know how I'm getting in.

I spend all of Saturday going over the information I've gathered about the building; entrances and exits, how soon after an alarm is tripped before I run into trouble, and most importantly Gwen's dad's schedule. After all him being in the office would be the biggest obstacle. This isn't just looking doable, it's looking easy. With my strength and with this new suit, they won't even know what hit them.

On Sunday it's time to make my move. I'm in my full suit on the roof of a building about half a block from the station with a small bag. I look down at the spider emblem I spent last night sewing into my suit. If this all goes right no one will see me, but on the off chance someone does. I want to give them something to remember me by. The sun is just starting to go down so I've got maybe fifteen minutes until the next shift change. While I don't think I'll need a distraction better safe than sorry. I pull out one of the guns I took from Fisk's thugs out of my bag. "This should bring them running." Five bullet shots ring out across busy New York as I fire from the roof into an empty alleyway, I can already hear the sirens. Time to make my move.

I jump from roof to roof until I land on the police station. I go over to the ventilation duct and rip the industrial sized ac unit from the ceiling. When I drop through the ventilation duct into the coms room, the last guard of the shift is more than surprised. I'm on him in a second before he can even think about calling for back up. "What the-" my fist hits him in the gut and he falls over. I want to laugh at how easy this is. I exit and go down the stairwell and to my luck it looks like both Stacy and the D.A. are out.

Feeling confident I leisurely walk into the office and towards my target. I take a seat in Stacy's desk and nonchalantly reach over to his bottom right drawer. Locked huh? Good thing I have a key. I pull my fist back and slam it into the lock, my hand goes through the cheap metal as if it were paper. Opening the drawer I easily find the file Fisk asked for to make it look less suspicious I grab a few extra files as well. I put them all in the bag but before I get up I hear a voice. Crap I wasn't paying attention, in front of me is an officer. He's got his gun out and trained on me. "Who are you? Keep your hands up."

I put my hands up calmly and stand up, "Hey there officer, what can I help you with?"

His hands are shaking, must be new. "No funny business man! Stay where you are, reinforcements are already on their way."

Not good, I turn my head and look at the large glass window next to us. "The more the merrier I like to say." I slowly start moving my hands down.

He thrusts his gun at me threateningly, "HEY, keep your hands still! I will shoot!"

He won't, I can see it in the sweat on his brow and in the shaking of his hand. This man has never shot anybody in his entire life. "You're bluffing."

His face turns red, "Don't make me do it man!" I start to walk over to the window watching him the whole time. There's a blast from his gun but I don't even bother trying to dodge it, it's not aimed at me. The glass of the window shatters as the bullet goes through it. "That was a warning shot! Next one goes through you!"

I hear steps coming up the stairs, time to go. "Well it's been fun officer but I have to run. Tell captain Stacy hello." The officer's eyes go wide as in a single leap I jump out of the window. Just as I'm leaving I see the door behind him open as more officers pour into the room. Maybe I cut that a little closer than I intended. I stick to a building across the street and swiftly climb onto the roof. I wave over my shoulder at the dumbstruck officers in the police station window. "Maybe next time fellas!"

This is so much more fun than beating up thugs, is what I think right before I hear the helicopter. "We have you surrounded!" A bright light shines through the twilight at me, " I immediately start sprinting. Luckily the cops don't typically have gunships around so instead of a machine gun I'm still dodging pistol fire. The only problem is how the hell am I going to out run a helicopter?

I jump on to the next roof but the helicopter has no trouble keeping up. I check my wrists as I near the edge of the block. "I didn't have time for testing, so I was hoping not to use these," I almost stumble as a bullet hits the padded part of my back. "But I don't have much choice do I?" There are no buildings close enough to jump to as I leap off of the cliff, I'm durable but falling eight stories would be more than enough to stop me, if I lived. I activate the button on my wrist and pray that my creations work like I planned.

Luckily I am a genius, the sticky 'web' fluid I designed shoots out of my wrist shooter and latches onto a near by building. I grab the web with my hand using the momentum to swing around a corner. I use my other shooter and weave through the buildings, dropping low to try and lose the helicopter. I can't help myself. "WOOHOO!"

It only took me fifteen minutes to ditch the cops, to throw them off though I made sure to escape in the opposite direction of my hotel, which conveniently brought me to the junkyard. I land on the hood of a car and take my helmet off to catch my breath, wide smile on my face, "Who knew that evading the cops would be so fun?"

"It didn't look fun." I whirl around to see Kitty standing behind me with her arms crossed; she looks pissed. "I figured you would end up here so I've been hiding in that car over there waiting for you." I'm actually shocked speechless I really need to work on paying attention to my surroundings. "What the hell were you doing out there Peter?"

I raise my hands defensively, "I can explain." She looks at me expectantly. I sigh, I really hoped to avoid actually involving her with Fisk but I'm not going to hide things from her. After telling her about my powers there's really no point. "It was a job."

She raises her eyebrow, "What do you mean a job? Someone paid you to attack the police station? Who else knows about your powers?"

"No the job was to steal some files," I point to my backpack. "I need the money, I got this suit out of it too."

She holds out her hands and I toss her the helmet. "This is really hi tech. Whoever got you this has money and connections. Is, is this vibranium?"

I shrug, "Your guess is as good as mine."

She tosses me the helmet back, "I want to meet him."

Oh no, "I really don't think that's a good idea, he could think I'm trying to double cross him or something. I'm not trying to make enemies. You should just stay out of this." She gives me the same look she used when asking about my powers. "I don't have much choice do I?"

She shakes her head, "None at all. When are we doing this?"

[Later that night]

I'm sitting on the roof of Kitty's building still wearing my suit underneath my clothes with my helmet in my bag when I hear the door open and Kitty walks out. "Are you sure your folks are okay with you being out this late?" I just really don't want to take her to Fisk.

She shrugs, "I told you they don't care about me. Let's go." She puts her arms around my shoulders.

"Woah woah, what are you doing?"

I can see her roll her eyes from the corner of my eye, "Holding on duh. Now get the lead out!"

Is she insane? "Kitty I'm not going to carry you there by web! If you fall you could die!"

She let's go of me and scoffs, "Watch this Peter." She sinks all the way through the roof into the next floor, before slowly rising again to stand next to me. "You're not the only one that's been practicing. If you do drop me, which you wont, I'll just phase through he ground and you turn around to pick me up again. Besides you were the one dodging bullets earlier so I'm pretty sure I'm the sane one."

I sigh as I realize that this is just another one of those arguments that I can't win. "I guess we better get going then. "

The trip to Fisk's headquarters is only slightly more unnerving than the last time. I swing around to the same back entrance that I was brought in the last time. There's a steel eyed guard around the back entrance but, he looks at me and then looks away, I'm just gonna take that as the go ahead. Thankfully Kitty is quiet, maybe seeing the guys with guns made her realize how dangerous this as and will keep her from doing anything stupid. When we get to the elevator I press the button for the penthouse and we begin ascending, Kitty finally breaks the silence. "So what kind of guy is this Fisk person? I've read like, articles on him but you've actually met him."

I think of the last time I was here, and how the threw me around the room. "He's intimidating. On top of that he's not an ordinary man, he's faster than me." She looks at me shocked. "He was able to grab me faster than I could react. He's strong too. Stay behind me when we walk in there ok?" For once she doesn't argue.

I'm standing once again in front of Fisk's elaborate Oak door, with his two armed guards on either side. I feel the same fear I felt before, an uneasiness with not knowing exactly what's about to happen. I feel Kitty squeeze my arm and actually feel thankful that I'm not alone. One of the guards opens the door and gestures for Kitty and I to walk inside. When we walk in I immediately smell food cooking. Unlike before the atmosphere in the room is actually a little welcoming, maybe that's just because now I at least know who's inside. Hear sounds from the Kitchen and lead Kitty in that direction. When I turn the corner my jaw almost drops when I see Fisk with a 'kiss the cook' apron on stirring at a pot on the stove. He turns and smiles when he see's us, "Ah Mr. Parker right on time, and who is your friend here?"

I'm stunned for almost a full second before I respond. "Uh, this is Katherine a colleague of mine."

He extends a hand to her, and I'm wary of him as she reaches out to take it, "Nice, to meet you Katherine, call me Mr. Fisk."

She actually smiles back to him, "Nice to meet you too, Mr. Fisk."

He gestures to the table, "Why don't you have a seat, I made enough spaghetti for the three of us."

Kitty takes the seat to my right, and accepts the bowl full of spaghetti licking her lips, "Thank you for the food, Mr. Fisk. But how did you know I was coming?"

He chuckles as he hands me my bowl while sitting down across from us. "I know a great many things Ms. Pryde." She looks at me and I shake my head, "Peter didn't tell me anything about you, but a man like me has ways of gathering information. Have you seen the news since your daring escape Mr. Parker?" I shake my head, "They're calling you 'Spider' seems one officer got a good look at the emblem on your chest. Say how are you liking the suit?"

Spider huh, I like it. As for the suit I just give my honest opinion, "It's great, thank you so much for it."

He wipes his mouth before speaking again. "Don't mention it boy, I had it made specifically for you. How about you Ms. Pryde? Will you be requiring a suit?"

She looks up mouth full of spaghetti and swallows, "Um, for what?"

"Well obviously for working with Mr. parker. I'm sure you wouldn't have come here if you didn't care about his safety a great deal. And we both know that the two of you are uniquely gifted."

Kitty looks shocked, "I –I mean of course I want to help Peter."

Fisk smirks, "You two have an interesting choice in front of you. With your abilities it's a simple matter of decision to determine your future. Tell me, will you use them to protect the masses, or maybe raze your enemies?"

Kitty looks at me unsure, I feel her hand on my arm, "Peter, no matter what, we'll stick together right?"

I nod; I want to protect us, Kitty and I, Gwen too. They are important to me, the masses? Who cares about anyone else? "I'll use my abilities to protect what's important to me. To get the things I need to keep the ones I care about safe." I look at Kitty for the last part.

Fisk smiles at the two of us, "Excellent answer Mr. Parker, it seems that we can help each other out."


End file.
